Rdio app grooves on Windows Phone 7

If you’re looking to make your Windows Phone 7 handset more music-friendly, you might want to check out the new Rdio app for Microsoft’s smartphone platform.

We’ve covered Rdio before in its iPhone, Android and BlackBerry versions, and the service offers streaming music for a monthly fee. The cool thing about Rdio is that you can also download tracks to your device for offline listening. Of course, that’s not yet available on the Windows Phone 7 app, but the company said it’s coming soon.

There are a lot of streaming music services on the mobile platform – Pandora, Slacker and Rhapsody all come to mind – but Rdio takes it up a notch by offering a beautiful user interface and adding social elements. It’s easy to find what other users are listening to and to get suggestions.

With Rdio, you’ll also be able to let it compare your home collection with what it has license to and it will allow you to stream certain songs wherever you go. There’s a free, three-day trial but it costs about $10 a month for full access.

I tried it on my HTC Surround and it looks nice and sounds pretty darn good. I’m not an audiophile by any means, as I’ve grown used to MP3s, but the sound quality was top notch over WiFi or 3G.

There are a few complaints about the Windows Phone 7 Rdio app though, as the lack of offline access is a major pain right now – streaming music can be a huge drain on your battery. There’s also no landscape mode and this may not be a huge problem for many users but I really want to take advantage of the kickstand on the HTC surround.